FILE PHOTO
Worried by the continuous detention of three of his domestic staff by the Department of State Service (DSS) since June 6, 2021, the lead counsel to the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor has pleaded with President Mohammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to prevail on the Director General of the Department of Security Service (DSS) to release the domestic staff unconditionally and with immediate effect.
The three domestic staff were arrested in 2021 when the ancestral home of the lawyer in Anambra State was allegedly invaded by security operatives.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday on the judgment of the Awka Division of the Federal high court which declared the invasion of his house as, “barbaric, uncivilized, illegal and unconstitutional”, Ejiofor demanded immediate compliance with the court judgment to release his detained staff.
He alleged that his house at Umunakwa Ifite, Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State was on June 6, 2021, unlawfully invaded by combined operatives of Army, DSS, Police and Civil Defence during which his Assistant, Samuel Okoro was gruesomely murdered.
To conceal evidence, Ejiofor said that the corpse of Okoro was burnt in his Toyota Camry car to ashes by the security operatives.
He, however, thanked the Federal High Court for the judgment delivered in his suit marked FHC/AWK/CS/56/2021 adding that the judgement had set the record straight against the denial by the security operatives.
The lawyer claimed that he committed no offence other than defending Nnamdi Kanu in the charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
Ejiofor fingered an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) who, he alleged was directly involved in the planning and execution of the illegal invasion and challenged the Police authorities to investigate the police officer’s telephone calls and messages between June 5th to 7th 2021 for deserved punishment.
Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa had in the judgment delivered on July 22 ordered the Police, DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps and the Nigerian Army to pay a total sum of N107 million compensation to the lawyer for the unlawful invasion of his house, destruction is done to his properties during the unlawful invasion and the cost of litigation.
Justice Nganjiwa had held in the judgment that, “I wish to state that after watching the CCTV footage tendered in this matter, I ran out of words to express my feelings to what I saw. I could not believe what I saw was done by human beings like us and the applicant (Ejiofor).
“In the first place, there was nothing shown why the applicant’s house was invaded. Even if he had committed murder, the respondents went too far by taking the law into their hands. The applicant, all the occupants of the house and the neighbours were traumatized psychologically, mentally, socially and otherwise.
“Again, the Personal Assistant lost his life out of an overzealous officer’s act, who to my mind are not human beings. They are not supposed to be in the service and be given responsibilities. No amount of compensation can bring him back to life and the loss or injury suffered cannot be healed forever”, Justice Nganjiwa held and ordered the defendants, Police, DSS, Civil Defence Corps and the Nigerian Army to pay Ejiofor a total sum of N107 million as compensation.
A breakdown of the fine showed that N100 million is general and exemplary damages in compensation for violation of his fundamental rights, N5 million as the cost of his burnt Toyota car marked YAB 60 CB, and N2 million as the cost of litigation.
The Judge declared the brutal and violent invasion of the house, killing, shooting and abduction of domestic staff as oppressive and gross violation of Ejiofor’s rights to private and family life guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Nganjiwa further issued an order of perpetual injunction against the defendants from further harassing, intimidating, or threatening to illegally arrest and torture or take further steps to terminate the lawyer’s life and properties.
The Judge ordered the security agencies to identify all the officers who participated in the dastardly act and sanction them accordingly.
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